So I saw the 2nd gen thread and wanted to play... What's the 3rd gen crowd doing for maintenance/mods this springs?Personally I am doing the following next weekend. Yukon Free Spin HubsDynatrac Ball JointsBilstein ShocksBilstein Steering StabilizerMaxx Links Sway Bar end linksDR Pro Fab Steering StabilizerNew front axle u-joints, AAM most likely. My shocks are starting to show signs of wear and my BJ's are still "within OEM spec" but I want to get this stuff done before I have to and it costs me down time from family fun. At 86K miles my OEM sealed bearings seem to be fine, but I am not taking any chances. I may also get a Max Brake trailer brake controller this spring, but I am going to try and solve my braking issue with the new TT with a brake adjustment first.

Sounds like you are really going to town on your project. :drool:I did the shocks on mine when I bought it and the rear ones were pretty easy. The front ones took about twice the time as the rears and you had to be a bit of a contortionist.

Well I am done, and aside from weekend distractions and date night it went pretty quick and smooth. The upper rear shock bolts were a PITA, but I turned the passenger side around and it went on much easier. The fronts were not too bad, but compressing the new 5100's took a LOT of energy to get the shock tower back over the studs. Everything buttoned up easily, and the hubs were quite simple to put together. The Yukon lockouts are STOUT and then some. I also really like that they will default locked if something were to fail in the lockout mechanism. I haven't gone for a drive yet, but I am cleaning up the garage and will take it for a spin shortly. I swapped to my summer/towing tires as well and need to find my notes with the proper speedo calibration size.

Looking forward to your write-up and your SOP impressions.

I took it for a quick spin to return some tools. It steers much easier at slow speeds, and it certainly coasts a lot further and easier. I didn't figure the hubs would be so warm after just 10 or so miles at 55-60, but they were probably 110°. As for the shocks, the truck is much more stable over bumps and curbs. The steering feels tighter, and I am not sure if it's the stabilizer, brace, BJ's or all 3. I did notice that my right pull is gone and the wheel is 3-5° off center from the previous correction for the pull. Initial impressions are great. I have an appointment to check the alignment tomorrow, and then I'll drive it some more.

  AH64ID said:

I took it for a quick spin to return some tools. It steers much easier at slow speeds, and it certainly coasts a lot further and easier. I didn't figure the hubs would be so warm after just 10 or so miles at 55-60, but they were probably 110°. As for the shocks, the truck is much more stable over bumps and curbs. The steering feels tighter, and I am not sure if it's the stabilizer, brace, BJ's or all 3. I did notice that my right pull is gone and the wheel is 3-5° off center from the previous correction for the pull. Initial impressions are great. I have an appointment to check the alignment tomorrow, and then I'll drive it some more.

My hubs were very warm after the 50 mile drive home from my Buds house.......................it was over 100* that day though. I think once the bearings "set in" a bit they won't get as warm. Some could have been "heat soak" from the brakes. Mine don't even get warm now as it's cold, unless I'm on the brakes a lot. All your impressions so far are the same as mine.

My original plans were...Spintec hubsBall joints (dynatrac)??New axle ujointsBrakesLift pump&filter upgradeDue to alot of unexpected tractor & hay equipment maintenence, it looks like the Spintecs are going to have to wait until this fall.I like Dorkweeds filtration setup from GDP, but my 03 has the APPS under the intake horn. So I`m looking at a FASS titanium with the F/W seperator and the two micron filter. I want to plumb it into the OEM filter housing to retain the fuel heater, and WIF functions even though the FASS tech I talked to did not reccommend it:think:.. I don`t see enough restriction here to cause a problem? I think he just wanted to sell me some more accessories.

You will like the hubs/ball joints. I am still amazed at how much better the truck drives at slow speeds. It's easier to steer and has a crisp feel to it, and that's with original steering tie rod ends. I am going to pull my hubs apart this weekend and do the 500 mile check on them.

  AH64ID said:

You will like the hubs/ball joints. I am still amazed at how much better the truck drives at slow speeds. It's easier to steer and has a crisp feel to it, and that's with original steering tie rod ends. I am going to pull my hubs apart this weekend and do the 500 mile check on them.

I am anxious to see if you realize a net gain in mpg after you get everything broke in and more miles on them so you have lots of meaningful data.

  AH64ID said:

You will like the hubs/ball joints. I am still amazed at how much better the truck drives at slow speeds. It's easier to steer and has a crisp feel to it, and that's with original steering tie rod ends. I am going to pull my hubs apart this weekend and do the 500 mile check on them.

All that combined with the savings on the drive train makes these a no brainer.. I`m pretty disciplined about keeping my credit card in check, but I might not be able to wait til fall...

  War Eagle said:

I am anxious to see if you realize a net gain in mpg after you get everything broke in and more miles on them so you have lots of meaningful data.

I only have about 40 miles empty on the setup so far, but its driving I normally do. I have noticed the engine load is slightly lower across the board when empty, as for towing I got some towing miles in but had a 30mph tail wind one day and a 30 mph headwind the next...

We did about 130 miles yesterday, with a bunch of FS roads, and all I can say is WOW! Between the shocks and unlocked front end the truck handles much better on winding FS roads, and pretty much all around. Coming back yesterday we had about 12 miles of interstate at 65-70 and the load read 13-15% for most of it, between the warm weather, new UDC tune, and unlocked hubs the load is down 5-7% which is AWESOME in my book.

That will translate into better mpg. :thumbup2:I am assuming you didn't have the TT in tow? If you did then that is even more radical. With the shocks, hellwig sway bar and free spin hubs you can now drive the FS roads like AJ Foyt in a sports car!!

Haha, yeah it doesn't quite drive like it did stock...No, there wasn't a TT in tow yesterday.

Haven't gotten very far on my lists of "want to do's" yet. Have done the injector upgrade and that is working pretty good for me. I went with "new" Bosch marine injectors with the 50 HP DDP nozzles. Been working through the tunes on the Smarty to increase my mpgs and so far I have achieved 22.05 (hand calculated) on SW5 with torque on 1 and timing on 3. I also did some in town testing and my best setting so far was SW7 with torque on 1 and timing on 3. The mpgs are at 18.7 for in town driving. I am still planning to try SW9 ( for in town mpgs) but that will need to wait until I get the camper off the truck. I am saving my coin for the spyn tech hubs next. I am watching the mpg reports for users and would like to see another 1+ mpg from that mod. I am getting giddy just thinking about possibly getting my mpgs up to 23 or 24.

Just a general update to my wish list of mods.

 

First off the list has morphed a little in that I have added a another want or two to the list.

 

I do a fair amount of hunting and decided to mount a new bumper and winch on the truck.  So I now have the parts in hand and will start this project when the weather gets a little warmer.

 

I also added a tire and wheel upgrade for the truck and this is to include 19.5s.  I now have these in my possession also but won't mount them until the nice weather comes.

 

Also I finally ordered the spytech hub upgrade kit and it's now in my possession.

 

So ask me what I am going to be doing this spring? 

Sounds like fun!

What did you choose for a winch and bumper setup?

For the bumper I went with th GO Industries System.  I got the one rated for 16k complete with brush guards.

 

http://www.goindustries.com/home/go1/smartlist_600/winch_system_grille_guard.html

 

For the winch I went with the MileMarker Hydraulic unit rated for 12k

 

http://milemarker.com/products/hydraulic-winches

What made you go hydraulic?

I originally bought a hydraulic unit and used it on the Ford diesel I had back in the 90's  Really liked it because you didn't have to give it a rest when pulling hard like you do with the electric winches.  You can work it all day where an electric winch will work the batteries over if you are pulling a lot (even if the engine is running and recharging the batteries.)

 

On a hydraulic unit you obviously have to have the engine running where you could conceiveably continue to use an electric winch if the engine wasn't running (albeit only for a finite amount of time due to battery capacity) but when ever I have needed to use the winch my truck was always in running condition.  If I had ever turned it upside down or drove off into a lake or something like that then the electric winch wouldn't do much good either.

 

I also found it takes less maintenance for me to worry about.  I don't have to worry about electrical connections or battery condition.  It's always ready to go and it is completely water proof so I can still use it even if emersed under water (engine running of course). 

 

Once you have the unit installed and plumbed in you cannot remove it anywhere as easily as you might with a receiver hitch mounted winch.

 

I have actually recovered two vehicles using the hydraulic where I was able to pull on them harder than their own onboard electric winches could do.

 

Anyway, I have had excellent experience with my last hydraulic unit so that is why I chose to go with hydraulic again.

Makes sense, I have had to use the winch once without a working engine (starter died 4 miles from camp/tools, and all but 4 short stretches were downhil), a dual battery setup provides a lot of power. We winched a 6K truck at least 400' uphill.

Lots of good things about a hydraulic, I just never got over the idea of the engine having to be running or the strain on huge power steering pump.